UnLunDun (Un London) By China Miéville - Review by Patrick

Um, hello! It's is my first ever blog/post/book review on the Internet thingie! (Insert yay's, whoo's and Go
Patrick's here) So, I have decided to review one of my favourite books ever. It is, quite frankly, weird and beautiful with just enough ninja dustbins in it to keep interesting (yes, I did say Ninja dust bins) So, lets do this thing!



Zanna and Deeba are two ordinary best friends. They are ordinary girls and do ordinary things, they go to school, eat, drink, breath, have old umbrellas follow them, wait! What! Umbrellas! Following! Ahh yes, so our story begins. Zanna is being followed by an umbrella, as you do, and Deeba is quite frankly a little bit jealous but more frightened that she and Zanna are going to die.

One night the girls get curios and follow the umbrella through the murky streets of London, but they would not have expected to find a secret entrance, of all things, to a new place, this place is called Unlondon! (Get it) A wonderful world of bits and bobs full of old rubbish people had thrown away, it has to go somewhere and that somewhere is unlondon. Zanna and Deeba are flung in to a world of odd people and new things and are all but about to die when it turns out Zanna is the shwazzy, a prophesied legend who will rid the new world of the evil smog, a gas like being which controls its minions by inhabiting there body. Even worse, the smog can rain acid, bringing terror from the skies and destroying umbrellas! (Shock, horror, cries) and thus begins a dramatic tale of two young girls, fumigating in an unknown world and with a ninja dust bin by their side, heck, who could beat them? With big twists along the way, this story is no stereotypical adventure. One spoiler: is Zeeba, the Shwazzy, really the hero?

This book is amazing for many reasons, one of which is the way it translates to modern day London. The smog obviously represents the dangers that pollution and global warming present today and show how dangerous it could be if it allows to go on.

The characters, especially Deeba, are easy to relate too and jump of the page so they can slap you in the  face. Furthermore the book is hysterical! It made me laugh every other page and is so well written you won't want to put it down baring for a long bit in the middle.

Try this book, it's something different and clever from an accomplished writer in other genre's.And hey, with milk cartons, ninja dustbins, half ghost boys, a needle man and a bear what more could you want?

Okay yeah, unicorns.

I have decided that every post I will include a quote, all be it funny or inspiring. This time, it's both...

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” 

― Groucho Marx, The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About Groucho Marx

See you next time mortals,

Patrick